Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency recorded seven incidents in Delta State, one in Bayelsa and one in Rivers, Premium Times found in a review of the agency’s records. The causes spanned sabotage and oil theft, equipment failure, corrosion, and operational or maintenance errors.
The largest spill came on August 26 at the W14T wellhead in Okpare-Olomu, Ughelli South, where ND Western released an estimated 704.5 barrels, about 112,016 litres, of crude attributed to operational or maintenance error, affecting soil and vegetation along the company’s right of way. Of that, 440.25 barrels were recovered, leaving 264.25 barrels unaccounted for. The single incident was more than eight times the 14,000 litres spilled from a Bayelsa pipeline in the same period.
Delta’s other incidents included a 1,590-litre spill from Renaissance Africa Energy’s six-inch North Bank flowline at Obotobo on August 15 attributed to sabotage or oil theft, a 1,110-litre equipment-related spill at NNPC Exploration and Production’s Egwa Well 23 that killed fish and damaged nets in Warri South-West, a 954-litre equipment failure at Heritage Energy’s Olomoro Compressor Station that reached a fish pond, and two small Renaissance pipeline spills at Yokri attributed to theft and corrosion.
Bayelsa’s incident was the second-largest overall: an estimated 88 barrels, about 14,000 litres, released on August 23 from a 10-inch Diebu Creek-Nun River delivery line at Eniwari, where investigators found an inward dent and tear suspected to have come from an improvised explosive device. The spill affected an estimated 1.62 million square metres of swamp habitat. In Rivers, Oando reported a one-litre spill on August 2 with a two-inch ball valve found attached to the pipeline.